


Iced

by orphan_account



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Post-Canon, Xing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-11
Updated: 2014-03-11
Packaged: 2018-01-15 09:01:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1299208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From the street vendor they bought a pair of shaved ices: eight treasures for Mei, simple sugarcane juice for Lan Fan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Iced

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt: "may fan fluff + asskicking please I'm literally begging" and for the fifty or so messages piling in my inbox from a _very_ panicked set of anons asking me if I've spontaneously quit this pairing. Fuck you guys, and I mean that as affectionately as possible.
> 
> Baobing's a Chinese dessert that's also really fuckin' delicious (I've tried some before, and though it was probably a bastardised version of it, it was great). I'm in a may fan sort of mood today so you might just be seeing more of this.
> 
> Unedited/unbeta'd due to length. Enjoy, and thank you for reading!

From the street vendor they bought a pair of shaved ices: eight treasures for Mei, simple sugarcane juice for Lan Fan. Sitting on the curved bench in the middle of a marketplace blooming with colour and noise, the women leaned against one another as red and violet juice ran down their chins. “Baobing game. Close your eyes,” Mei whispered, bringing something cool and wet to Lan Fan’s lips.

She swallowed sweetness. “Honey dew.”

“You’re too good at this for your own good.” Mei sighed in mock disappointment. “I remember when you couldn’t tell the difference between fruit and plain ice at all. Here.”

Also cool and wet, but quivering. Lan Fan smirked: she didn’t have to taste it to know. “Leaf jelly.”

“What did I do to deserve such a lover? You’re worse than Al sometimes.” With her vision darkened Lan Fan could still _hear_ Mei scritching her panda behind the ear. “Xiao Mei, you’re the only one I have left.”

“Third time, perhaps?”

Warm and wet, this time. Flavoured with a distinctive twinge that no amount of syrup or saccharine could ever replace. “Mei.”

“Dammit,” said Mei, but she kept her mouth pressed to Lan Fan’s anyway, halfway kissing and halfway snorting with laughter, shaved ices entirely forgotten in favour of one another.

In the midst of their mirth  a brief flare on the outer perimeter of her net of _chi_ alerted Lan Fan; the mark passed over the periphery and threaded through the market. Lan Fan dipped her chin ever so slightly; Mei tucked her panda into her sleeve for safekeeping. They crumpled the paper cones. Stood from the bench. Traced the mark’s signature until Mei widened her eyes as well.

Knocking over a coop of chickens, the ensuing explosion dulled the mark’s _chi_ senses and captured him with a tight circle of wood, feather, and ground. The chaos of the squawking chickens that escaped over the dusty paths drowned out the noise and sight of two women knotting ropes around a man clad in black.

In the safety of an alleyway Lan Fan wrapped her fingers around his collar: a lanky man in his thirties with long hair tied off into a phoenix tail similar enough to Ling’s that Mei murmured about being willing to restrain Lan Fan if needed. But Lan Fan had learned in the years elapsed between Amestris and now.

The mark held the item he had stolen in a concealed pocket sewn into his leg. Slitting his skin, Lan Fan retrieved the imperial ring, noting the tattoo of the Long emblazoned in orange on the man’s ankle. Not a royal tattoo, as of a noble, but the somewhat altered form taken on by peasantry.

Mei glared at the ring, a keepsafe of extraneous _chi_. “You stole this, and nothing else?” With his mouth gagged, the man could scarcely bob his head.

Lan Fan frowned. “He’s telling the truth.”

“We’ll interrogate him.” She pulled the cloth sack over his head and tied it off while Lan Fan tightened the bonds on his limbs and torso. “Light enough for you to lift?”

“Mm. I suppose we should return to the palace” Tossing him over her shoulder, Lan Fan unfolded herself to her full height. “. . . we could eat another round of baobing first.”

Mei laughed and Lan Fan thanked her ancestors for the opportunity to see the universe pause to hear the heavenly sound. “I love you. _And_ the way you think. C’mon.” She tugged Lan Fan’s hand, towing her towards the light.


End file.
